The Story of the 34th Infantry Division
Book II • Pisa to Final Victory

Chapter XXIV • BOLOGNA
Smashing [pp. 53-58]

   The zone of operations selected for the 34th Division took the units back once more to the familiar terrain of M. Belmonte and the Gorgognano Church hill. Between us and the Po Valley lay a belt of field defenses in three strips making a total depth of three to five miles. The Germans had not been idle during the winter, and had replaced the lack of concrete and steel by an abundance of alternate and reserve positions. The plan called for the seizure of the first line of enemy defenses on Gorgognano Church hill and the Sevizzano ridge, the exploitation northwards and westwards of initial success, and finally, the broadening of the Division sector west to include Highway 65 and possibly the city of Bologna. Throughout the winter, available training time had been employed to stress the importance of training in mine-clearing operations by the infantry. In order to further reduce the danger from German minefields, the 109th Engineers, operating in conjunction with the 133rd Infantry, carried out extensive clearing and marking operations for seven successive nights prior to the jump-off so that when the 168th Infantry (which was to be the assaulting element) closed into the forward areas they found that clear paths existed through the mine fields almost up to the German outpost line. Allied formations to the east and west having jumped off successfully several days before our own attack, the 34th began its assault at 0300 hours on 16 April [1945] following a terrific artillery and air preparation. It was a day doubly to be remembered for it was also the 500th day on which the Division had command of a sector in contact with the enemy - a record by then unapproached by any other American Division in the Theater. Almost at once the assaulting companies of the 168th Infantry ran into the heaviest kind of infantry weapons fire. To start with, little artillery was received, thanks to the excellent counter-battery work of our artillery and aircraft during the preceding hours. Progress towards the Sevizzano ridge and towards the rubble of the Gorgognano Church and its nearby cemetery was slow, and calls for artillery neutralizing fire against enemy mortar and machine-gun positions were constant. By noon on the second day of the attack our troops had secured a foothold in the ruins of the Gorgognano Church, but the enemy continued to resist stubbornly from the graveyard hardly a hundred yards away. German artillery, by then having recovered from the first shock of our attack, placed heavy and accurate fire on our advancing elements, on one occasion laying down a concentration of 150 rounds of [150 mm] fire on the churchyard alone. Our own guns were in action almost without pause, crunching down upon the German positions in a ceaseless drumming fire which ground up the earth and all things on it into unrecognizable shambles. Urged on vigorously, our troops maintained heavy pressure until, by the evening of 18 April, the Germans showed signs of weakening under this terrific punishment. Leaving large numbers of unburied dead on the battlefield, the enemy attempted to withdraw from Sevizzano ridge and from the Gorgognano Church hill to a previously prepared second line of defense 1000 yards further north, but, by the timely commitment and rapid advance of a reserve battalion, a great portion of this force was overtaken and captured. The left-hand neighbors of the 34th, the 91st Infantry Division, had in the meantime been meeting similar rugged opposition but had gallantly succeeded in reaching the base of the key hill of M. Arnigo, which they captured by assault on the evening of 18 April. At once the 133rd Infantry relieved the 91st Division troops on this feature and, as it took up positions on the west of the 168th Infantry, both Regiments drove northward with undiminished vigor.

   By this time the enemy had committed all of his immediate reserves and, having no other forces to throw in, began to show increasing signs of raggedness, exhaustion, and low fighting spirit. On the east of our sector the engagements were sporadic, although further to the west isolated enemy groups defended with great tenacity certain hill features until, after hours of intense fighting our advancing troops overcame them.

   On 20 April, only four days after the attack began, through one of the strongest and best prepared lines the Germans had constructed, the 34th Division, in its sector, was in a position to push rapidly in the north leaving scattered stragglers to be cleaned up later. During the early afternoon of 20 April our troops, spurred on by the news that the 34th Division had at the last moment been given the mission of entering Bologna, exerted every ounce of energy to cover the remaining dozen kilometers which separated them from the city which had lain within their view for six dreary months. Bologna was entered by troops of the 133rd Infantry - the first American troops in the city - during the small hours of 21 April. Rapturous civilians joined with the Partisans who had risen in revolt against the German garrison to welcome our troops [and those of the II Polish Corps coming in from the southeast].

   Upon occupying the city, the 34th Division began the task of garrisoning the place, maintaining order, and gathering in its units which had become rather scattered as a result of the final chase. A battalion of infantry assisted counter-intelligence personnel in conducting a clean-up hunt in the city for Fascists and Nazis. After spending 36 hours in the great prize, the Division was relieved of its long attachment to II Corps and placed under command of IV Corps for operations designed to clean the enemy out of northwestern Italy.

Chapter XXIII NEW YEAR Patrolling	Chapter XXV HIGHWAY 9 Slashing
Return to the beginning, The Story of the 34th Infantry Division Introduction, Foreword, Contents

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